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Dam Store reopens west of Loveland; U.S. senator drops in

Sen. Bennet visits highway construction site at end of newly reopened U.S. 34

By Craig Young Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
10/04/2013 06:39:04 PM MDT

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, right, checks out the flood damage on U.S. 34 on Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, at the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon west of Loveland as Colorado Department of Transportation crews work on the road.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

LOVELAND -- When the owners of the Dam Store reopened Friday after a three-week flood-imposed closure, it never occurred to them that one of their first customers would be a U.S. senator.

Sen. Michael Bennet took a quick tour of west Loveland on Friday that included stops at the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon and at Sylvan Dale Ranch.

After watching highway crews truck in large loads of fill material for the construction of a "pioneer road" where U.S. 34 was destroyed, he stepped into the iconic shop.

"I heard you were open, so I thought I'd come buy something," the Colorado Democrat told Ruth Norris, who is helping her son and grandparents run the store.

Bennet bought Rocky Mountain National Park T-shirts for his three daughters and a package of elk jerky.

Norris and her youngest son, Mark Norris, are visiting from Virginia to help her oldest son, Micah Noyes, who co-owns the store with her parents, Les and Roberta Olmstead.

Dam Store Undamaged

Ruth Norris said they are spreading the word that the three-week-long blockade of U.S. 34 has been lifted and that people can come shop in their store and climb their tower for a bird's-eye view of the flood damage and road construction.

In the early days of the flooding that peaked Sept. 12 and 13, the social media were full of questions and comments about the fate of the historic store next to the Big Thompson River.

Because the building sits high above the river, and the floodwater overflowed the opposite bank, the Dam Store didn't suffer any flood damage. Some rain runoff from across the highway caused minor erosion on the property, Mark Norris said.

Ruth Norris had praise for the efforts of the Colorado Department of Transportation to let people know that they could get to the business.

But Friday afternoon, it wasn't clear to drivers that the highway from Loveland to the Dam Store was open.

After picking out some T-shirts for his daughters Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet looks at jerky for sale at the Dam Store on U.S. 34 at the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon west of Loveland.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

West of town, a barricade with signs that said "Restricted Access" and "Road Closed/Local Buss Open" blocked part of the highway.

CDOT spokeswoman Amy Ford said she would look into the signage situation.

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